Tiaras and Churches


 


Morna and bridesmaid Kirsty trying on outfits
 in the late 80s!

       Morna had bought a tiara but not a dress when she returned from the wedding show last November.   She did have both a minister and a church booked at that time but we have just learned that our family friend and former minister, now in Canada, is unable to be with us in Skye for the June wedding so we have a vacant minister or is that a minister vacancy!

         On the positive side, the bride and her bridesmaids have shopped, tried on outfits and selected dresses so options are being discussed and a decision about to be taken.  Mother of groom (aka Mog) begins to shop for her outfit while Mob (aka me) struggles to begin diet. 

     So at present we have a tiara and a dress for the bride, bridesmaids' dresses almost purchased, a church but no minister and Mob about to begin her "lose-weight" regime.

                       

  

Just been on long walk to exercise Mob!





Most importantly, Sorcha is a happy dog!

When Harry met Sally



My birthday on 22nd October 2003 in the Ferry Road flat

 Granny was very pleased to be taken to Glasgow in the October holiday 2003 to see the Flat that Calum and Morna had acquired the previous summer - not least because some of the furnishings had come from her own attic!  She was delighted to spy some old friends from Skye (whose daughter lived in the flat downstairs) coming in to the close which resulted in her cèilidhing with them over the next couple of days.  We drove her round Glasgow visiting relatives and had a memorable meal out with Joan in the Islay Inn to celebrate my approaching birthday.    
Morna did not admit then to having a new boyfriend but as I happened to be in Glasgow the following week, I was asked to drop her off for her date at The Curlers in Byres Road.  Following  interrogation (a right held by mothers!) Granny was duly informed by me that Morna's  boyfriend was called John Butcher.  She was tickled by the surname, having not encountered it before and so used to enquire of Morna "Ciamar a tha Am Bùidsear" (How is the Butcher?). 
My mother is to blame therefore, that for the past seven years I have made and failed to keep a New Year's resolution to stop referring to John as "The Butcher"!   Perhaps in 2011 as my daughter becomes Mrs Butcher, a more polite form of reference to my son-in-law is required.
Granny got to know John well in the intervening years and I was touched by his own tribute to her, in saying to Morna - "Your Granny liked the simple things in life, a nice cup of tea, plain food and most of all her family round about her".  He remembered her never-ending hospitality and her tubs of pancakes, unfailingly sent off with them, as they left her home in Waternish after a visit. 
I know such a perceptive and empathetic person as John will be an excellent husband for Morna, so I will be extremely happy to toast The Butchers on Friday 3rd June!

From pink to ivory

   

 Pink baby dress circa 1980 bought for Morna by Granny in 1984

 

      Between mothers and daughters moments of irritation often surface and I had such an experience in 1984 when pregnant with my second child.  During a visit from my mother, when she and I were alone in the kitchen,  she thrust a package containing the above dress into my hands.  "For luck", she chuckled leaving me feeling ominous about her fostering an expectation that this baby would not be a second son!  

"Bidh an dreas pinc gu math feumail", (the pink dress will indeed be useful) were the words used by her son-in-law phoning from Raigmore hospital, to say that the baby had been born three weeks early, on 5th October 1984.   That was  her first  introduction to Morna and there followed a long and loving relationship between them over the years.

     It's very comforting  to remember that the last conversations she had with both Morna and I were about the ordering and purchase of Morna's wedding dress.  I phoned her from the posh dress shop during the initial fittings to say that she would have enjoyed sitting back with me on a chaise-lounge and watching the proceedings.   Granny was then one of the privileged few to be given all the dress details immediately after the final decision was made.  She said, of course that Morna would be stunning what ever she wore.

 I agree - Morna is stunning in the dress, but apart from having already written that it's ivory (oops!) I will tell no more but leave you for now to admire the little pink dress which I have kept for over 26 years  .......

Do you think it's time to clear out my upstairs cupboards?

A Lady in Lavender

   

The idea of being a hands-on craft-competent
    mother-of-bride was very appealing last August!

 Tasks done:

1. Lavender picked last August and one entire day spent handling it, after it lay on kitchen table for two days.
2. Lavender dried for five months in wardrobe resulting in seed all over the place.
3. Use of lavender discussed in depth with nearly every visitor to Dubhard.
4. We smelt it, pressed it, glued it, sprayed it, tried it, dried it and gave out samples.
5. Decided it may (or may not) be used for invitation decoration.
6. Meanwhile linen card bought for and tri-folded by bridesmaids (thank you Kirsty and Julie) while bride and mother of bride attended wedding show at SECC and mother of bridesmaids made dinner and supplied anesthetising beverages to soothe aching feet and complement free cocktails sampled earlier at show (thank you Joan!).
7. Very large reel of purple ribbon bought from ebay by mother-of-bride (hereinafter referred to as Mob) of which the postal package, due to quirks and intricacies of postal deliveries in Sleat, was discovered inside the car one week after expected delivery (through the letter-box).  Please note, however this statement cannot be used as an excuse for tasks not done (see below)....

Tasks not done as at 13 January:

1. Invitations not completed (target December - oops!)
2. Diet not started by Mob - (oops - oops - oops)
3. Every other wedding task cannot be classified under this heading as not done, as target dates had not been set for their completion .....

Is the moral of this then, to not set targets?

A' pòsadh

Mary Fraser Martin (nee MacNab) and daughter
Janet Martin (now MacLeod) -  11th October 1979

In 20 weeks' time on 3rd June 2011, my daughter Morna gets married and this is an attempt to record the journey over the next five months, the preparations and my thoughts as we get ready for this lovely family event.  Motivation has been difficult for me recently because there is less than five weeks since my mother died suddenly and unexpectedly.  We are devastated by our loss and very much miss Granny's involvement in the wedding preparations.  I know she would want Morna and I to have as much fun and joy as she and I had back in 1979, when preparing for my own wedding on the Isle of  Skye.   As it's now over 31 years ago (yikes!)  I decided a B&W image of mother and daughter would be kinder, though I think I've changed just a little over the years!